1
The General kept on announcing provisions in the constitution to the delegates assembled. "Continuing...
"The Right of Standardization: The Commonwealth will be defined for the undersigned communities by the impartial service of the Minutemen. The Minutemen will be held responsible to provision and ensure the entirety of the Commonwealth."
Roxxy's brow narrowed. But she seemed to be tasting, as if trying to form the words on the tip of her tongue. Stockton had caught on to this and had started to watch the Atom Cats with care whenever one of them hesitated.
The General explained. "We don't need to be biting at each other. For instance, Diamond City has a security envelope that extends past their wall. Should Goodneighbor wish to expand or develop their own security envelope, there would have to be a previously agreed to mechanism for resolving any border dispute in a peaceful manner. With words and idea, rather than another Diamond City style purge.
"Besides, this supports the next right.
"That's going to be threat removal, where the Minutemen are given the responsibility of handling not only external threats but groups like the Forged."
"Or did Overseer McNamara want the only foundry that could replace reactor parts to remain in the hands of that mad cult?"
The woman down the table shook her head. "That...sounds like a bad thing.", Gwen guessed.
Roxxy turned to Zeke behind her. He narrowed his eyes at the General but nodded slightly, and only once.
"Aye.", Roxxy stated.
Stockton turned to Kessler but Kessler seemed expressionless. "Aye.", the Mayor of Bunker Hill affirmed.
"Aye.", the rest of the table followed.
"And the Right of Freedom From Threats?", the General asked without actually reading it.
"Aye."
"You know,", the General distracted, "it's actually nice working with people that understand the situation. Perhaps people were way too comfortable before the world ended. But based on my experience, I had thought we might have been here a week after people started arguing about who they were sitting next to. But really, I think we have what we need for now."
"I don't.", Roxxy started. Zeke favored her with a curious expression.
"This government's supposed 'for the people'. Anyone that knows where it's at ought to be able to jump around the clock."
"The hell did you just say?", Hancock asked.
"No, that's fair.", the General agreed. She held a pen to her lips as she thought. After a few moments and some stares, she started to write.
"Right to the Freedom of Expression: Every citizen of the Commonwealth, identified and identifying as such, can express their thoughts unheeded. This right does not protect acts to disturb the public tranquility, such as but not limited to threats or extortion or blackmail."
"There's a difference between extortion and blackmail?", Old Man Stockton asked.
The lawyer nodded. "A threat is 'I'm going to kill you.'. Extortion is 'I'm going to kill you if you don't give me everything you have.'. Blackmail is 'I'm going to tell the mayor to have you killed if you don't give me everything you have.' regardless of being accompanied by a threat to reveal illegal information. Blackmail is a crime against the people as it seeks to distort the government's enforcement of laws in exchange for favors. Extortion is just robbery through words."
"Huh.", McNamara acknowledged.
"Fair enough to you, Atom Cats?", the General asked.
"Aye.", Roxxy offered.
A chorus of 'ayes' went up around the table.
"Anything else we can address immediately?", the General continued.
"What about trade?", Geneva asked.
Kessler was cut off by the General. "The Minutemen are already ensuring the safety of the Commonwealth, so trade should progress smoothly. I don't see a reason to interfere between whomever trading among themselves."
Kessler glanced at the General but then turned to stare down Geneva. Geneva was obviously trying to think of something that would justify favoring Diamond City over the traveling caravans. In the end, she couldn't.
"I see."
The General nodded. "Any thing else?"
The table was silent for a moment. The General capitalized on that. "Let's all take a break. If nothing else comes up, then I can send you back to your communities until we need to reconvene. Then the Minutemen can get started on our campaign against the Forged."
2
As the General exited the office, Preston addressed her. "General."
"Preston.", she smiled.
"Um...Can I have a moment to speak with you. Now. It's about the accords."
The General quickly spun to the diplomats. "Refreshments are stored in our mess. It's down that hallway."
She then took Garvey by the arm and led him down toward the room that was turned into a barracks.
Even on the way in she ordered the guard. "The delegates might need something. See to my office or the mess accordingly." No need for her to hear what Preston was likely to say. Especially if he was as smart as she had given him credit for being.
The man seemed hesitant. "These...rights."
The woman nodded. "I thought it would be better to state everything the government is doing as a right of its citizens."
"Well...", Preston continued. "I don't think they are."
"Whatever do you mean?", she opened.
"Well, even the first one - this 'Right of Minutemen Protection'. It says that everyone has the ability to contribute. It doesn't say that the choice to do so is on the person. This could be taken to mean that the Minutemen could demand anything from anyone as long as it was justified as helping the Minutemen to protect the Commonwealth.", he explained.
"And it's not too far a jump from that to simply demanding everything for the sake of the empire."
"That's exactly what that means. Coloenel.", the General admitted.
"Oh, so you agr...wait - what?", Preston asked.
"It takes resources to perform any endeavor.", the General began. "If I had just came out and said so, and called for a provision to take taxes, every single person in that room would have had to be shot before the Castle itself was torn down stone by stone. I had to get them to all sign on to provide that material support because it will be needed at some point.
"Currently, we're what passes as fortunate in the Wasteland. We are producing more from settlements than the larger communities combined. Right now, the Minutemen have enough resources for our next missions. But in any war, that could change in an instant. I had to have a provision where I could siphon off economic output of the Commonwealth to wage those campaigns in the future."
Preston glared at her. "Are you telling me that what I thought I was reading in between the lines as potential...misstatements were...intentional?"
She held a hand over the armor over her heart. "Why Colonel. I thought I was a lawyer. And that writing contractual language was well within my area of expertise."
"So here, in the Right to Autonomy/"
"I will interpret how 'undue' any interference is."
"And Communal Defense/"
"Gives me the authority to tell anyone where they can and cannot go."
He pursed his lips. "And the delegations agreed to these, knowing this."
"They don't know.", the General informed. "That's why they were brought here - to confuse them with infighting. Well, not infighting exactly. They were put off balance by trying to ensure that no one else among themselves gained the upper hand. And they were so busy patting themselves on the back for not squabbling while doing so that they never caught on to anything I was actually having them agree to. Especially after I put the Institute in check by revealing McDonough as a synth.
"And so before it even comes up, I'm giving you new orders. Colonel of the Minutemen.", the General continued. "You are to inform no one, whether directly or indirectly or by an act of omission or some obscure definition of 'somebody' in case you were thinking of typing it in a CONSOLE, of any potential abuse of the terms declared in the Rights of the Commonwealth. If the people lose faith in the Minutemen, then the Commonwealth falls flat.
"Now, I'll promise you that I won't use these clauses for my own ego or self glorification. But we need to have them in place before one community is threatened and begging for it and other communities are lording the opportunity over them. So are you going to follow my order, Colonel?"
[Preston hated that]
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good."
And before she could say anything else, the doors to the barracks flew open.
"General, you need to hear this."
